Apparatus and method for applying cork to caps



Filed June 10. 1921 4 Sheets-Sheet Oct. 9, 1928.

A. L. EDWARDS ET AL APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR APPLYING CORK TO CAPS 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed June 10, 1921.

vzn r as A. L. EDWARDS ET AL APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR APPLYING CORK TO CAPS Filed Jude 10, 1921 4 Sheets-Sheet n W m a n m 1 W 1 OO O O O OO OO OO III Q I l I g m fgwwf A. L. EDWARDS ET AL APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR APPLYING CORK T0 CAPS Filed June 10. 1921 4 Sheets- Sheet 4 ET. A v %/v H 4 Md Z M 5 f QI/W v 5 2 W4 6 f 4 W Patented Oct. 9, 1928.

AIsONiO L. EDWARDS AND JOHN A. HCGINNIS, SIGNOBS TO WHEELING STAMPING COMPANY,

OF WHEELING, WEST VIRGINIA, AS- A CORIPOBATION OF WEST VIRGINIA.

APPANATUB AND METHOD FOB APPLYING CORK T CAPS.

Application filed June 10, 1821. Serial No. 476,470.

the connections for actuating the cap feeding disk Figure reel 5 7 is a plan view showingthe cork carrier, the ejector, and associated parts; and

Figure 9 is a vertical section, partly broken away, of the cap feeding hopper.

Our-invention has relation to the application of cork to container caps and to a method and machines for applying cork to such articles. According to our invention, a simple apparatus is provided b means of which cork disks or ackings may 28 cork stoc and inserted and secured in the metal ca 5 by a series of mechanical opera tions. T e invention has been more particularlydesigned for cutting cork packings and inserting them'in metal caps,-such as are emloyed asthe closures for collapsible tubes; ut the invention is also applicable to other metal caps having a cork packing orgasket inserted therein. Also a novel method of applying the cork is provided by our inventlon. c

The nature of our invention will be best understood by reference to the accompanyin drawings in which'we have shown a preferre embodiment thereof, which will now be described, it being premised, however, that various changes may be made in the details of construction, arrangement and combination of the several parts without departing from the spirit and scope of our inventlon as pointed out in the appended claims.

Inthese drawings, the numeral 2 designates a feed hopper in which themetal ca ready to receive the cork packmg's or ts, are

Figure 6 is a sectional elevation showing- Flgure 8 is a sectio'nal view of the punchc cut from a strip of placed, and from which they are fed by a selective feed. This feed may be of any well known character in the art. In the drawings, we have shown the base of the hopper as provided with a plurality of T-shaped feeding slots 3, which will pass the caps only in the position in which their concave side is uppermost. this general character are well known in the art. The hopper is rotated by suitable means, such as the bevel gears 4, driven by a shaft 5. This shaft in turn is shown as being driven by a belt connection 7 with the main shaft 8. The caps are fed out from the base of the hopper into a downwardly and forwardly inclined feed chute 9 of a character to maintain them in proper position and which may be provided with a plurality of perforations through which the feeding operation can be observed and also through which an implement may be inserted to loosen the caps in case of jamming. The chute 9 delivers the caps onto a circular rotating table 10 which may be driven by any suitable means, such as the belt connection 11 with the main shaft 8, this belt passing around a driving pulley 12 on one end of the shaft 8, around suitable idlers 13 and then around the pulley 14; on the shaft or spindle 15 of said table 10. The table 10 is provided with a fixed vertically extending rim 16 and also with afixed guide 17 forming asconverging throat leadin to the periphery of a rotating wheel 18. he periphery of this wheel is formed with aseries o teeth 19, somewhat resembling saw teeth, having a seat 20 between each two adjacent teeth, of the pro or size and shape to receive each therein a single cap. The wheel 18 is rotated-in a stepy-ste manner b suitable means, such as the. pawl; 21, one 0 which is carried b 22, the ot er one bein pivoted at 21 to the frame or table 21" of the machine, and 21 is a spring connected to both pawls 21. The carrier 22 is connected to one arm of the bell crank lever 23, and theother arm of said lever 23 has a connection 24 with the strap 25 of an eccentric 26 mounted on the main shaft 8.

Selective feed mechanisms of the reciprocating pawl carrier The pawls 21 engage a ratchet wheel 27 on the shaft or spindle 28 of the wheel 18.

29 designates a, hollow punch (see Fig. 8) which is interchangeably held in a vertically reciprocable punch carrier 30 mounted for movement in the fixed guides 31. The unch 29 reciprocates above a die plate 32 having an aperture therethrough below which the metal caps are moved in succession by the action of the wheel 18. The movements are so timed that as each metal cap is brought underneath the opening of the die plate 32, the punch 29 is moved downwardly to cut a cork disk or packing from the strip 33 of cork stock, this strip being preferably fed from a reel or holder 34by suitable feeding means which will advance it in a step-by-step manner. For this purpose, we provide the two feed rollers 35 (see Fig. 4), each having a ratchet 36 secured to its shaft, and these ratchets being actuated by pawls 37 secured to a reciprocating pawl carrier 38. The member 38 is mounted at one end on an arm 39 connected to the axis of one of the feed rollers 35 and at its opposite end portion on one arm of a bell crank lever 40 fulcrumed on the axis of the otherfeed roller 35, and actuated by a member 41 which is attached to the punch carrier 30.

The punch 29 is provided with the ejector 43 which is arranged to reciprocate therethrough to force the cut piece of cork out through the die 32 into the metal cap immediately below the opening in said die. The punch carrier 30 is reciprocated by means of theoscillating arm 44, which is fulcrumed on the frame at 45, and is actuated by the eccentric 46, said arm having a ball-shaped end portion 44 which extends into an opening 47 m the punch carrier. The ejector 43 is arranged to be moved downwardly by the action of a cam member 48 which is slidably mounted in the arm 44 and has a cam surface 49 which engages the upper end of'the ejector.

The member 48 is periodically moved in one direction by a projection 50 on the shaft 8, adjacent the eccentric 46, and its return movement is eflected by means of the'spring 51 for each revolution of shaft 8.

The punch carrier 30 also has secured there in a setting pin 52 and a cap ejector 53. The setting pin 52 is spaced laterally from the punch 29 a distance equal to the amount of one step movement of the wheel 18; and the cap ejector 53 is spaced a similar distance away from the settin pin. The arrangement is such that upon a downward stroke of the punch carrier 30 a piece of cork will be cut from the strip 34 and will be ejected by the ejector 43 into one cap; the setting pin will act to set firmly and securely the piece of cork in the next preceding cap; and the cap ejector 53 will eject a completed cap from a third seat of the wheell8, though a suitable opening 53' in the table 21".

54 designates a driving pulley for the shaft 8, and 55 is any suitable clutch for throwing said pulley into and out of engagement with said shaft.

The operation Will be readily understood from the foregoing. A quantity of the metal caps is placed in the hopper 2, and are fed successively therefrom onto the table 10. From this table they are taken successively, while still with their concave sides uppermost, by the teeth of the wheel 18, and are moved by said wheel in the direction of the arrow (Fig. 2). They are thus successively brought underneath the hollow punch 29 and immediately beneath the cork strip 33; and the punch is then reciprocated to cut the packing or gasket, the ejector 43 then being operated to free the cut piece of cork and enter it in the cap. At the same time, the setting pin 52 sets the cork in the next preceding cap, and a third finished cap is ejected from the machine, falling through the table 21 into any suitable receptacle.

The advantages of our invention result from the provision of a machine b which the cork pieces are cut and secure in the metal caps by a series of mechanical operations which require comparatively no manual supervision or attention. The machine is simple in its construction; the parts are ositive in' operation; and there is very little about the machine that is likely to get out of order. Each stroke of the punch carrier effects the three distinct operations, including the discharge of a completed cap. The

work is accurately done at a comparatively small cost.

A further advantage of thepreseilt invention resides inthe preparation of'the cork into a long ribbon-like form, intermittently advancin the ribbon through the cap corking machine and holding it taut while an individual disk is arranged therefrom and forced into the cap.

We claim:

1. A. ca -corking machine comprising means for feeding the caps to a certain point, means for feeding cork material over the, caps at that point, a cutting device for cutting pieces from the cork material and entermg them in the caps, and means for drawing from the cutting device the surplus cork material from which pieces substantially as described.

2. A cap-corking .machine comprising means for feeding the caps to a certain point, means for feeding cork material over the caps at that point, a cutting device for cutting pieces from the cork material and entering them in the caps, together with means adjacent said point for setting the cork pieces in the caps, and means for drawing. from the cutting device the surplus cork material jfrom which pieces have been cut, substantially as described. a

have been cut,

ing means for cutting 3. A cap-corking machine comprising means for feeding the caps to a certain point, means for feeding cork material over the caps at that point, a cutting device for cutting pieces from the cork material and entering them in the caps, together with means adjacent said point for setting the cork pieces in the caps, and for automatically ejecting the corked caps from the machine, and means for drawing from the cutting device the surplus cork material from which pieces have been cut, substantially as described.

4. A cap-corking machine comprising means for feeding the metal caps singly in succession to a given point with their concave sides exposed, means for feeding a cork strip over the caps at that point, a cutting device for cutting circular pieces in the cork strip and entering them into the caps, and means for drawing from the cutting device the strip from which the circular pieces have been cut, substantially as described.

5. A cap-corking machine comprising means for feeding the caps to a certainpoint, means for feeding a cork strip over the concave sides of the caps at such point, punchdisks from said strip, an ejecting device for ejecting the cut disks from the punch and entering them in the caps, and means for withdrawing the cork strip from under the punch, substantially as described.

6. A cap-working machine comprising means for feeding the caps to a certain point,

means for feeding a cork strip over the con-- cave sides of the caps at such point, punching means for cuttin disks from said strip, an ejecting device or eject-ing the cut disks from the punch and entering themin the caps, together with a setting device operating adjacent to the punching device, and means for withdrawing the cork strip from under the punch, substantially as described.

7. A cap-corkin machine, comprising means for feeding t e caps to a certain position, means for feeding a cork strip over the concave surface of the caps at such position and holding the length of strip over said surface in taut condition, and means at said position for severing cork disks from said strip and depositing the same in said caps, sub stantially as described.

8. A cap-corking machine, comprising means for feeding the caps to a certain point, an elongated cork strip, means on opposite sides of said point for feeding said cork strip over the concave surface of the caps at sue a point and maintaining the same taut over the caps, a punch carrier, a' hollow punch mounted on said carrier, an ejector working through said punch, means for operating said e ector and a setting device cooperating with the punch carrier, substantially as desc; ibed.

9. A cap-corking machine comprising means for feeding the caps to a certain point, means for feeding a cork strip over the con cave surface of the caps at such point, a reciprocating pu ch carrier, a hollow punch mounted on said carrier, an ejector working through said punch, and means operated by the punch carrier for operating said ejector, together with asetting device also carried by the punch carrier, and an ejector for the cork caps also mounted on said carrier, substantially as described.

10. A cap-corking machine comprising means for feeding the caps to a certain point, spaced means for feeding a cork strip over the concave surface of the caps at such a point, a reciprocating punch carrier, a hollow punch mounted on said carrier, said punch being located intermediate the spaced feeding means, an ejector working throu h said punch, and means for operating the ejector, substantially as described.

11. The method of manufacturing corklined caps, comprising feeding caps to a predetermined position, forming an elongated strip of cork material, feeding said strip over the caps at said position, cutting blanks from said strip and delivering it to said caps, and holding the cork strip taut during the cutting operation, substantiallyas described.

12. A cap-corking machine comprising means for successively feeding caps-t0 a cork applying station, a die plate above the cap at such station, a hollow punch above the die plate, means-for reciprocating the punch in timed relation to the cap feeding means, a feeder for feeding a cork strip between the punch and die plate and for holding the strip on opposite sides of the punch, an ejector in the punch and means for actuating the ejector to remove the punch, substantially as described.

13. A cap-corking machine comprisin means for successivel feeding caps to a cor applying station, a ie plate above the cap at such station, a hollow punch above the die plate, means for reciprocating the punch in timed relation to the ca feedingmeans, a feeder for feeding a cor strip between the punch and die plate, an ejector in the punch, means for moving the ejector to force the cork 'unching from the punch into the cap, said ee'der being effective for maintaining the cork strip under tension during the punching operation, substantially as described. p

14. The method of manufacturing corklined caps, comprising feeding caps to a predetermined position, forming an elongated strip of cork material, feeding said strip over the caps at said position, hol ing the strip on opposite sides of said position, and cutting blanks from said strip while so held ,and delivering the blanks to said caps, substantially as descri 15. The method of manufacturing corklined caps comprising feeding the caps to a predetermined position, intermittently feedmg a thin flexible cork strip over the caps at said position and supporting the strip on a 5 perforated support atsuch position, maintaining the strip taut on the support over the perforation in the support, cutting a blank from the strip while it is held taut, and

delivering the same directly through the perforation 1n said support to a cap position be- It] low the perforation.

In testimony whereof, we have hereunto set our hands.

ALONZO L. EDWARDS. JOHN A. MCGINNIS. 

